Storybrooke Free Public Library
Storybrooke Free Public Library Status: Opened Owner: Mr. Gold First Appearance: Pilot Latest Appearance: Ill-Boding Patterns The Storybrooke Free Public Library, also known as the Clock Tower, is a Storybrooke location on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the Pilot of Season 1 of Once Upon a Time. Plot 'During First Curse' When The Evil Queen cast the Dark Curse, she and many inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest are transported to the newly created town of Storybrooke. Below the main floor of the library, she imprisons Maleficent in her dragon form deep below the surface to guard a trigger. Time becomes frozen, and none of the trapped residents can age or are aware of the restraints holding them in place. The clock tower's hands never move, and stay stuck at eight-fifteen. The Evil Queen assumes the role of Storybrooke's mayor, Regina, and has an adoptive son, Henry, who believes in the curse. One day, he leaves town and returns with his birth mother, Emma. When Henry refuses to tell her his house address, she obtains it from the boy's therapist, Archie. After returning him home, Emma quickly finds herself bonding with Henry, despite his eccentric ideas that the town is frozen in time under some curse and she is the destined savior who will break it. He pleads with her to stay in Storybrooke for a week to prove the curse is real. Until unceremoniously told by Regina to stay away from her son, Emma decides to take Henry's advice and checks into the inn. That same night, Henry stares out his bedroom window at the clock face of the library building and watches the minute-long hand move forward for the first time. He smiles; realizing that Emma is staying in town after all. The next morning, Regina is shocked to hear the clock tower chime for the first time. On her way to work, she glares at the clock in disbelief. Archie, on his daily walk with Pongo, comments in wonder if someone finally fixed the clock. To save Henry from the Sleeping Curse, Mr. Gold instructs Emma to bring back a true love potion he hid in the belly of a beast in his previous life. Emma and Regina enter into the first floor of the clock tower, which is an abandoned library. There is an elevator that goes down one floor, and Regina operates the switch while Emma steps in. She battles the dragon form of Maleficent. After piercing the creature with a sword, she collects the remaining potion. 'After First Curse' After the first curse is broken, Belle grows increasingly concerned with Mr. Gold's unwillingness to talk to her about his reason for still using magic. Fed up, she seeks refuge at the diner where a waitress, Ruby, offers her a room at the inn and also suggests she take a look at the boarded up library. Belle goes to glance at the inside of the library from an outside window when a stranger, William Smee, surprises her by asking for change. She replies she has none, but William suddenly grabs and kidnaps her to another location. Her father, Moe, asked William to bring her to him. He is unhappy Belle is still with Mr. Gold, and makes William send her down a mine shaft car in the hopes of crossing the town border and losing her memory. Belle is rescued by Mr. Gold, but she wants nothing to do with him. Later, at the diner, Ruby shows her a library key someone left for her. Once Belle unlocks the door to the library, Mr. Gold reveals he is the one who sent the key. She is grateful for the gesture, but doesn't want to go back with him. Mr. Gold finally opens up to Belle, and admits he wants to retain magic to find his long lost son. Having told her the truth, he begins leaving, but Belle decides they can start over and invites him to join her for a hamburger snack at the diner. The town mechanic, Billy, is killed in a gruesome fashion. Since it is the first curse-free wolfs time that just passed, everyone suspects Ruby of having transformed into a wolf and mauling him to death. District attorney Albert rallies the angry townspeople and calls for Ruby to be punished, but temporary sheriff David continues to protect her from harm. In fear the townspeople will storm the sheriff's office jail cell where Ruby is held, he and Granny hide her in the library with Belle's help. Believing herself to be guilty, Ruby tries to atone by chaining down Belle while she herself goes to face the town mob. The hunt is put to a stop when David and Granny find evidence Albert falsely framed Ruby. Continuing to clean up the library, Belle receives a visitor whom she is startled to recognize as Hook. She runs from him, but is not able to escape the library. Belle pins Hook underneath a bookcase and hides in the elevator while she calls Mr. Gold for help. Hook uses his hook to break into the elevator, but he is no match for the dexterity of the elevator. Regina visits an amnesiac Belle in the hospital, and uses magic to force her unconscious. Then, she rummages through Belle's pursue until she finds a binary number for a book that presumably guards the location of Mr. Gold's dagger. She, Cora, and Hook search the library shelves for the book. After realizing the book is gone, Cora find a map in its place which Hook is able to translate. They discover the location of the dagger, Cora sees no more use for Hook and flings him into a bookshelf so she and Regina can have the weapon to themselves. She explains that they will use the dagger to manipulate Mr. Gold into killing David, Emma, and Mary Margaret. David and Mary Margaret persuade Emma, while she is in New York City, to procure the true location of the dagger from Mr. Gold. The pair find the dagger hidden in the minute hand of the tower's clock face, but Cora and Regina threaten to kill Mary Margaret's dear friend Johanna if they do not hand over the weapon. Mary Margaret, unable to bear seeing Johanna suffer as Regina crushes her heart, surrenders the dagger. Satisfied, Regina shoves the heart back into Johanna's chest while Cora picks up the dagger. Mary Margaret waits with open arms as Johanna rushes towards her, but Cora cruelly kills the woman by flinging her out the clock face. Attempting to murder Mr. Gold in New York, Hook believes he succeeded, despite being knocked out and locked in Neal's apartment storage room. He is found by Neal's fiancée, Tamara, and taken back to Storybrooke where she and her partner-in-crime, Greg, haul him inside the clock tower. Seating the pirate in front of the broken clock face, they hand him a mini-telescope to view the street below. Hook looks down in disbelief to see an alive Mr. Gold walking around with Belle. Greg and Tamara offer to assist in destroying his nemesis, but first he must help them by getting close to Regina. Hook pretends to become Regina's ally and later tricks her into clasping on a bracelet that Greg and Tamara altered to remove all her magic. Regina herself double-crosses Hook, using him as a scapegoat, when they go down to the lower level of the clock tower to retrieve a trigger to destroy Storybrooke. After gaining the item, she returns to the library ground level only to be greeted by Hook, who was rescued by Greg and Tamara. He reveals his betrayal just before Greg and Tamara kidnap her for an interrogation. Following a return trip from Neverland after rescuing Henry from Peter Pan, Emma and her allies quickly realize all is not right. Discovering Pan switched bodies with Henry, Mr. Gold uses the wand of The Black Fairy to undo the change. With Granny's sense of smell, they track Henry, now returned to his original body, to the library. The boy rushes out to reunite with both of his mothers, Emma and Regina. He gives Regina a scroll, which Pan had plans to use for enacting another curse. 'During Second Curse' Regina meets her half-sister, Zelena, and is challenged to a duel after sundown. As the anticipating townspeople gather outside in front of the library, Zelena approaches, garbed in black, while an enslaved Mr. Gold is forced to follow along. Emma starts a fight with her, but is swiftly disposed of. When Regina shows up, the two sisters trade harsh words until a magic battle commences. Eventually, Zelena hurls Regina right through the clock face and attempts to steal her sister's heart. Mockingly, Regina states that their mother taught her well not to bring her heart to a witch fight. Having lost, Zelena hops on her broom to leave, but not before vowing she will find the heart. 'After Second Curse' Since escaping from Emma, who he has been avoiding since stealing money from an ice cream shop, Will outruns her again at a local restaurant. After celebrating his getaway by getting drunk, he mistakes the closed library for a bar and begins lock-picking his way in. Hook, having finished his date with Emma, passes by and tries to persuade Will to go home. Will pushes his hand away twice, to which an enraged Hook repeatedly punches him; seemingly fueled by his restored hand that Mr. Gold recently reattached. When Will questions what he's doing, Hook regains calm and threatens him into keeping quiet about what just happened. Once his attacker leaves, Will breaks into the library. Finding a particular book, he rips out an illustration of The Red Queen and tucks it into his pocket. In the morning, Belle finds Will asleep on the floor and phones Emma for help. Emma, not pleased to be disturbed on her day off from work, still arrives to reprehend him. When new evidence is discovered The Snow Queen, Ingrid, had been Emma's prior foster mother, everyone splits up into a search party to find the villainess' ice cream truck. Belle opts to research at the library as Elsa joins her. Elsa is desperate to find her missing sister, Anna, though she remains unaware Belle is hiding a secret relating to her. Belle once met Anna in the past, failing to save her, resulting in the girl's capture by The Snow Queen. In the library, she hides a map of Arendelle from Elsa, who is losing hope of finding her sister. Elsa wonders if Anna trapped her in the urn, as The Snow Queen claimed, and doesn't want to be found. Belle insists that's not true, but out of guilt, she leaves and secretly tracks down The Snow Queen. Continuing to research, Elsa finds a pictorial family tree of the Arendelle royals. On it, she discovers her mother, Gerda, Ingrid, and another woman named Helga are sisters. In her plan to ostracize Emma from her loved ones, Ingrid sets up a fake mirror on the inside of the clock face within the tower. Shortly after, Emma apprehends Ingrid with a spell to magically bind her wrists. Ingrid is taken to the sheriff station for an interrogation by Elsa and Emma while David and Hook examine the mirror. Elsa later joins the twosome, but at Belle's arrival, she warns the trio not to look at the reflection as it will brainwash them. On closer examination, Belle notices it's not the same mirror she saw in The Snow Queen's lair. Realizing they have been duped, the group rush to Emma at the station. During a diner discussion, Will suggests to Robin Hood, who wants to find the storybook's author, that Storybrooke's magic originates from the clock tower. He explains his theory by revisiting life under the first curse, in which time was frozen until Emma's arrival; prompting the curse to weaken and the clock face hands to move as time resumed. Suspecting they will find information on the author in the library under the clock tower, the pair go there together. Will attempts another library break-in, but Robin Hood notices a sign listing the store hours and opens the unlocked door. Inside, they find nothing of use until Robin Hood discovers a storybook page, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, in his bag. The illustration depicts himself and Regina's would-be first meeting in the past Enchanted Forest. Shocked, he urges Regina to come to the library right away. Once she arrives, he shows her the image, which is listed as page twenty. In comparison the storybook's page twenty, it has an image of Regina choosing not to meet Robin Hood for the first time. He argues this as proof that their pasts had different possible paths because the book already has illustrations for both events. With her optimism in hope renewed, Regina kisses Robin Hood. In the six weeks after Belle banishes Mr. Gold from Storybrooke, she and Hook research at the library for a way to free the nuns from the sorcerer's hat. One morning, as Belle is opening the library doors, he meets her there just as Emma parts from him for the day. Inside, Hook examines a board littered with dead ends about the missing nuns, and in a fit of anger, he knocks it off the wall. From the counter, Belle assures him that they do have a lead towards saving the nuns, but since it's written in an ancient language, she is consulting with outside help to translate it. Guilty over his part in trapping the nuns, Hook expresses remorse over letting Mr. Gold control him. As Belle goes to shelve books, she asserts her own fault, too, by doing the same and for being blind to her husband's actions. Hook then recalls something Mr. Gold once said that he himself believes to be true; love is a weapon and is as dangerous as magic. Belle considers the fact he had both their hearts; figuratively and literally in each of their cases. Despite her husband's bad ways, Hook confirms that Mr. Gold did truly love her, which makes Belle tear up as she shares hopes that he found what he was looking for. Later, she receives an email response from an "Oxford professor" with the text translation for a ceremony that needs to be performed to bring back the nuns. When Maleficent offers an alliance, she asks the savior to locate her daughter Lilith, a name Emma unexpectedly recognizes. Rushing to the library, Emma goes through a projector of newspaper clippings until she sees a microfiche for Lilith Page, who she remembers as her childhood friend Lily. Regina finds her there, suggesting they leave town together, as they both have missions outside of Storybrooke. Emma resists at first, stating she doesn't need a babysitter, but Regina clarifies that she needs Emma, who has more experience in the Land Without Magic than she does. 'After Third Curse' In defiance of her allies, who have no interest in rescuing Mr. Gold from Emma, Belle heads to the library, hoping to track Mr. Gold with a street map. Suddenly, she hears the elevator coming up from the lower floor, causing her to grab a weapon in defense of whoever is in there. The elevator doors open, revealing a frightened Mr. Gold, who is running from Merida. During a brief respite, he thanks Belle for not giving up on him, as it was her voice he heard while in his coma, which gave him a reason to cling onto life rather than let go. Although she is touched by his sentiments, Belle quickly puts her feelings aside and urges him to seek cover with her at the pawn shop. After becoming aware he is a Dark One, Hook embraces the darkness and challenges Mr. Gold to a duel on the Jolly Roger so they can finish the fight that started decades ago in the same place. Since Merlin once said the first Dark One, Nimue, is the heroes' only hope of defeating the Dark One, Mr. Gold suggests they learn as much as they can about Nimue by researching The Dark One Chronicles at the library. Because there may not be enough time for that, Emma tries persuading, to no avail, for the removal of her cuff so she can aid her allies with magic. While Emma is left to stay in Regina's house, everyone else begins heading to the library. Mr. Gold opts out to prepare for his battle with Hook and Regina temporarily parts from the rest of the group to deal with Zelena. At the library table, Belle, David, and Mary Margaret are deep into their book research when Henry walks past some shelves, where Emma surprises him. She convinces him to team up with her in "Operation Cobra: Part 2" to retrieve the dreamcatchers Hook previously stole from her. In an effort to learn Hades' weakness, the heroes search the books at the library. Emma has a meltdown over knowing Hook is still trapped in the Underworld and unable to move on because of Hades' presence in town, but she calms down after Snow suggests she can help Hook by aiding in their research. Later, Emma takes a break from the books and looks at storybook pictures of herself and Hook in the past Enchanted Forest. Upon getting sad over the memory, she puts the book aside, but then, it flips open by itself to a new page from Hades' story. Emma, at first, is shocked, until she realizes Hook is helping her from the Underworld. She then takes the pages and leaves the library for town hall, where Hades is hiding. Afraid of Mr. Gold's intentions with her unborn child, Belle consults the library for a way to stop him, and unknowingly falls asleep at one point. In her dream, she finds a book on how to defeat the Dark One, which tells her to follow a red strand. After closing the book, Belle sees the strand and follows it out the library to a cave, where she meets her grown son "Morpheus", who hints the key to stopping Mr. Gold is right in front of her. Later after waking up from the dream in the library, she shows Hook and Emma a book she was reading prior to falling asleep, and tells them about her son's cryptic hint. Hook notices the book is written in squid ink, which they can use to paralyze Mr. Gold. Belle wants to help lure him out, but Emma dismisses the idea because it may give Mr. Gold the chance to accelerate her pregnancy. Mr. Gold manages to corner Belle while she is alone at the library, and he explains why he is forcing their son to love him by magic rather than choice. However, Belle persuades him not to because if he does, he'll lose her for good. Following Gideon's retreat after losing to Emma in a duel, he takes a walk through the empty streets of Storybrooke. Gideon heads into the library and up to the top level of the clock tower, where he paces back and forth, working himself into a fury before shattering the clock face with magic. After knocking Gideon unconscious, Mr. Gold brings him to the top level of the clock tower and binds him with restraints to a chair. Having once given into darkness for an initially good purpose, Mr. Gold talks about becoming the Dark One to protect his first-born son Baelfire, but as a consequence, once the darkness took hold inside him, it never stopped. He worries the same will happen to Gideon and then asks what The Black Fairy did to make him believe he must kill the Savior to become a hero. After Mr. Gold unties his son's binds as proof of his trust in him, Gideon recounts how his mother's book shaped his desire to be a hero, but The Black Fairy made him a coward after she gave him a chance to save another boy she was torturing, but he was too scared to help. He then asks for his father's help to prove The Black Fairy is wrong about both of them being cowards, and Mr. Gold agrees before passing him a cup of tea. Gideon drinks it, which Mr. Gold spiked with a forgetting potion, in an attempt to erase his son's pain for good. After Mr. Gold admits to what he put in the tea, Gideon hugs him with feigned gratitude and then steals the Dark One's dagger from him, as he reveals the potion had no effect on him. He then orders his father to help him fix the sword that he is destined to kill Emma with. Employees *Belle Visitors *Cora *David Nolan *Elsa *Emma Swan *Gideon *Granny *Greg Mendell *Hook *Ingrid *Johanna *Leroy *Maleficent *Mary Margaret Blanchard *Merida *Mr. Gold *Peter Pan *Regina Mills *Robin Hood *Ruby *Tamara *Will Scarlet Trivia On Screen Notes= *The library and clock tower are featured in the title cards for "The Queen is Dead" and "Dark Hollow". *The clock has been depicted in some form of broken state in every season of Once Upon a Time apart from Season Four: The clock itself was "broken" until the end of the "Pilot" in Season 1, when time resumed in Storybrooke. Cora broke the clock face in Season 2 when she magically threw Johanna out of the tower in "The Queen Is Dead". Its repair appears confused as it was still broken in "And Straight On 'Til Morning", however, flashbacks in "Dark Hollow" set immediately afterward show the clock repaired. Zelena broke the clock face in Season 3 when she magically threw Regina through it during their fight in "It's Not Easy Being Green". It was repaired at some point between "Kansas" and "A Tale of Two Sisters" The clock face was broken again in Season 5 when Zelena was sucked out by a cyclone summoned by Regina in "Swan Song". It was repaired at least by "Our Decay". Gideon shattered the clock face in Season 6 during a magical fit of rage in "Tougher Than the Rest". It was repaired soon after, by "Ill-Boding Patterns". *Its address number is 3551. *The library's opening hours are from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M. on Mondays to Fridays, 10 A.M. to 8 P.M. on Saturdays, and 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. on Sundays. *According to the poster behind the front desk, the book categories are general works, psychology and philosophy, religion and mythology, social sciences, languages, natural sciences and math, applied sciences and technology, arts and recreation, literature, and geography and history. |-|Production Notes= *The top two stories of the clock tower, including the clock, are visual effects. *The closed library in Season One represents the way all the stories have been ripped from the fairytale characters lives during the Dark Curse. |-|Goofs= *In wide shots, the area around the clock face is shaped like a square. In close-ups, the clock face is in the shape of a trapezoid. *In an exterior shot of Storybrooke, the computer-generated clock tower is situated at least two streets behind Sara's Old Fashioned Ice Cream, a business located next to Mr. Gold's pawn shop. However, other episodes clearly show that the pawn shop and Sara's Old-fashioned Ice Cream are both located in the same street as the Storybrooke library, with the library on the opposite side of the road. *On occasion, the clock tower building has been seen in shots without the clock itself digitally added: When Emma walks Henry to school, as she pauses and stops walking, the clock tower building is reflected in the window, but without the actual clock tower. After a playground scene with Emma and Henry, there is a shot of Storybrooke main street where you can see the clock tower building, but without the actual clock tower. When Moe French steps out of his florist's van, in the background, you can see the clock tower building, but without the clock tower. As David and Mary Margaret are walking through Main Street, the top of the real Nikka Fishing & Marine, which looks completely different from Storybrooke's clock tower, can be seen behind a building. |-|Other Notes= FILMING LOCATIONS *The building is portrayed by Nikka Fishing & Marine, a two-story store on Moncton Street in Steveston Village. A replica of the front of the library, built at the The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, is also used for filming. This building is also seen briefly in the science fiction film Godzilla. *The interior of the clock tower is filmed on a set.